Recipe: Wine-Braised Beef Cheeks with Pomme Puree

As the weather warms up, rich and meaty dishes are best reserved for showing off. This time of year we pull out the big guns a little more sparingly, reserving their luxury for Sunday lunches and special occasions.

Such is the case with Hell of the North chef Simon Martensz’s braised beef cheeks. You could make this a winter staple (and you definitely should) but don’t underestimate this rich, luxurious braise when it comes to spring and summer celebrations.

First, find some good-quality beef cheeks. “Go to your local butcher or a butcher you can trust at the market and talk to them about it,” says Martensz. “Ideally, you want them trimmed up already so get your butcher to take all the fat and sinew off.”

You’ll need to marinate your beef cheeks in a mix of port and red wine, with a few herbs and some crushed juniper berries. To really let those flavours absorb, it’s best to leave overnight.

“The next day, take out the beef cheeks and put that red wine mixture onto a medium heat and simmer that down by about half,” says Martensz. Sweat off a mix of carrot, onion and celery, season the beef cheeks and give them a good browning in an oven-proof dish. “You want some really good caramelisation on the cheeks,” Martensz says. “Then put that on top of your sweated-off veg. Strain in the reduced wine and top it off with about two litres of beef stock.”

Bring it all to a boil, then it’s low-and-slow in the oven at 150 degrees. After two hours, check the beef. “You want to be able to push a skewer through without any sort of resistance at all,” says Martensz. Once the beef cheeks are tender, let them rest. “If you take them out of that liquor straight away, it’s almost like they dry out a little bit.”

After 20 minutes or so, remove the beef cheeks, strain the braising liquid and reduce it on the stove. “You want to reduce it by about three quarters and it’ll be sticky and thick,” says Martensz. “Then you whisk in a few knobs of butter – that just gives it some nice richness and gloss to the sauce.”

There isn’t much more to pomme puree than regular mashed potatoes – it’s just a smoother version. Start your potatoes in cold water, heavily seasoned. “Cook them till they’re super soft – about 20 to 25 minutes,” says Martensz. Once you’ve given them a minute to air-dry, puree the pomme. Martensz recommends putting the potatoes through a ricer or a mouli, but if you don’t have either handy, a classic masher or fork works – it’ll just be a little more rustic.

“Then heat up the milk, cream and butter and fold that through the mash,” Martensz says. “If you’ve got a drum sieve, it's a good idea to push it through that after you’ve put in the milk and cream mix.”

To serve, plate the mash, then place the beef cheeks on top. Spoon over the reduced sauce and garnish with some fresh parsley.

Wine-braised beef cheeks with pomme puree

Serves 4

Preparation time: 1 hour (plus 12 hours to marinate)

Cooking time: 2-3.5 hours

Ingredients

4 beef cheeks

500ml red wine

200ml port 6 sprigs of thyme 1 tsp black peppercorns

1 tsp juniper berries, crushed

3 bay leaves

Salt and black pepper

2 cloves garlic, sliced

1 onion, diced

1 carrot, peeled and diced

1 celery stick, diced

2L beef stock

500g potatoes, peeled and quartered

100ml double cream

50ml milk

150g unsalted butter

Parsley for garnish, chopped

Method

Put the beef cheeks in a large bowl with the wine, port, thyme, black peppercorns, juniper berries and bay leaves and marinate in the fridge for 12 hours.

Preheat oven to 150℃. Remove the beef cheeks from the marinade, season with salt and pepper and brown in an oven-proof pan for 3 minutes each side. Remove and set aside. In a separate pot, boil marinade until reduced by half.

Cook garlic, onion, carrots and celery in the same pan as the beef cheeks for 10 minutes on medium heat or until soft. Reintroduce the beef cheeks, add stock and the reduced marinade. Bring to a boil then cover and cook in the oven for 2.5 hours.

To make the pomme puree, boil potatoes in salted water for 20 minutes or until cooked. Strain, then push through a mouli (or use masher). Add cream, milk and butter then season to taste.

Remove beef cheeks from the oven, strain cooking liquid and reduce over medium heat for 20 minutes.

Serve cheeks and vegetables on top of pomme puree, wine reduction and garnish with parsley.